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.'.:::::::`. Petros Katiforis (Πέτρος Κατηφόρης)
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; | C ..\ Feel free to contact me! <pkatif@mail.com>
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\ | / \ This post was published on the 2nd of October, 2023
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Today was my first ever official visit at my local university here in Athens. During the month of June I participated in the national Greek exams and a couple of weeks later I was digitally sent the results which granted me access to an Athenian university related to computer science and telecommunication technologies. The process was tough and unfathomably corrupt, but I somehow (I was lucky indeed) still managed to score great despite of our educational system's infernal, disappointing and enraging conditions. The university's facilities are about an hour and a half away from home by bus which means that I would be spending three hours daily in an idle state of mind, unless I quickly figure out a fitting activity while traveling that does not rely on the use of a smartphone. I tried to invest that time so as to practice my drawing skills, but I just couldn't keep my hand still due to some annoying vibrations originating from the deteriorated condition of Greek roads.
The university was actually high-school-like, with the exception of some notable differences. For starters, due to an ancient (modern-) Greek tradition, the environment was highly politicized. Groups of right-wind supporters were giving away flyers showcasing their organization. It is however true that the majority of the propaganda originated from communist clubs which have a substantial say in the place's management. When I first entered the gate I was introduced to communist banners, posters, graffiti and electoral desks. Inside the auditorium and before the first lesson could ever start, members of the communist youth announced their actions, past activities and contemporary concerns with the excuse of celebrating our entry as if they were part of the university staff. They immediately proceeded to hand out propaganda to each desk and only then was the professor actually allowed to start his presentation. It was like experiencing a fascist intervention at a public trial! I do agree that political consciousness is important, but they were basically treating students as mindless sheeple, which is by no means entirely unreasonable. Did I mention that the FAQ office looked no different than the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece?
Regardless of all that, the campus' buildings were all dilapidated except ours due to its recent construction. Public funding is once again inadequate but I still appreciate that I don't have to pay a single penny to attend the lessons excluding the discounted bus subscription. The university offers free lunch too! I hope things stay like that for the posterity to come, albeit our government has been diving head-first to future Americanization.
As for the content of the lessons themselves, we were introduced to the C Programming Language and Discrete Mathematics which both fascinated me! I've already got a basis in C which I hope and expect to make my studying sessions significantly shorter. Although GNU+Linux is mandatory in our class, the professors use either Windows 7, Windows 11, MacOS or Ubuntu (GNU+linux but non-free) and they've yet to refer to the free software movement. The operating system is widely named solely by its kernel, which is both misleading and rude considering the GNU project's generous contributions over all these decades of continuous work...